Scoop: VC titan Ben Horowitz plans "significant" donation to Kamala Harris
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Felicia and Ben Horowitz in 2019. Photo: Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images
Venture capitalist Ben Horowitz and his wife Felicia plan to make a "significant" personal donation to Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Horowitz and business partner Marc Andreessen stunned Silicon Valley in July by endorsing and donating to Donald Trump, saying he was the best candidate for technology startups.
- At the time, President Biden was still running for re-election.
Behind the scenes: Horowitz announced his change of heart via an email sent on Friday to Andreessen Horowitz employees.
- He notes that he and Felicia have known Harris for more than a decade, and she's been "a great friend to both of us over that time."
- Horowitz adds that he is "encouraged" by conversations with Harris around what his firm refers to as the "Little Tech Agenda," but cautions that her campaign has not yet "stated their intentions" formally. As such, the firm itself has not changed its position.
- Overall, he continues to believe that "the Biden Administration has been exceptionally destructive on tech policy across the industry."
An Andreessen Horowitz spokesperson declined to comment.
Read the full letter:
a16zers,
I wanted to give you an update on my political activity. As I mentioned before, Felicia and I have known Vice President Harris for over 10 years and she has been a great friend to both of us during that time. She's also been a friend to the firm in our early days, helping with several events at my house when we built the original Cultural Leadership Fund network.
As a result of our friendship, Felicia and I will be making a significant donation to entities who support the Harris Walz campaign.
From a firm perspective, we continue to only take positions consistent with our Little Tech Agenda and how the various candidates that support or don't support policies to build a strong startup technology industry.
Although I have had several conversations with Vice President Harris and her team on their likely tech policies and am encouraged by my belief in her, they have not yet stated what their tech policy will be, so the firm will not be updating its position in that regard.
As we stated earlier, the Biden Administration has been exceptionally destructive on tech policy across the industry, but especially as it relates to Crypto/Blockchain and AI. So, while I am very hopeful that the Harris Administration will be much better, they have not yet stated their intentions.
Carry on,
Ben
Go deeper: Investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz will donate to Trump
